MONTREAL — Chance after chance, the Flyers only beat Toronto goalie Jonathan Bernier once Wednesday night in the season opener, a 3-1 loss. The fact that they fired 73 shots toward the Toronto net tells the team that offense will come eventually.

The only thing is “eventually” better come soon.

“We won’t win a lot of games scoring one goal,”center Sean Couturier said. “We’ve got to capitalize on our chances and keep pushing. I think we’re in the right direction.”

In the preseason the Flyers scored only 15 goals in seven games. That’s not a real telling stat now that the regular season is here and many of the players on the preseason roster are no longer around. But there’s a trickle-down effect. While the Flyers were giving all those young players a look in preseason, the only fielded a true roster twice in those seven games. That’s not a long time to develop chemistry, so the Flyers are doing that on the fly.

“I still think we’re looking at things with regard to the lines and the chemistry,” coach Peter Laviolette said. “I think we’d like to find a balance throughout our lineup. Nothing is set in stone.”

No matter the combinations the coach puts together, one thing that has to change is hitting the net come game time.

“Even at practice here we’re firing Scud missiles from the slot or coming off the rush and they’re smashing off the glass,” Laviolette said earlier this week. “I think if we can put it between the red bars somewhere not only will it be a chance for it to go in the net, but there might be a second or third opportunity that follows.”

So far, the Flyers are preaching patience. Even from the outside, Danny Briere thinks the Flyers will figure it all out. He knows all too well that the Flyers can go through scoring slumps.

“You can’t lose faith too quick,” the former Flyer said in a conference call Friday. “I look at their team and they have a lot of firepower. I can’t see that happening over a long stretch. Hopefully it lasts one more game, but I can’t see it lasting very long. There’s too many offensive players.”